The Conservation Workers Local 1215 is a statewide union of game wardens employed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with under 50 members. The union is affiliated with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and is organized as a Conservation Wardens Local 1215, an AFSCME affiliate not to be confused with AFSCME Local 1215, the Chicago Public Library Employees Union. ^{1 2}

Ben Gruber, the president of Conservation Wardens Local 1215, is also a board member of the Wisconsin Conservation Wardens Association. In 2024, the union, led by Gruber as a key individual plaintiff, sued to overturn portions of Wisconsin’s Act 10, a state government-worker bargaining regulation passed in 2011 under then-Governor Scott Walker (R). ³

History

Little information is publicly available on the operations of Conservation Workers Local 1215. The union operates a Facebook page and shares a close affiliation with AFSCME Public Safety, the law enforcement arm of the major government worker union AFSCME, with the group’s logo on social media depicting the group as AFSCME Public Safety Local 1215. ¹

The union was largely inactive for most of its existence. Its current president, Ben Gruber, became a game warden in 2019 after working as a firefighter for several years in multiple localities in Wisconsin. Gruber became union president in March 2023 and credits himself with growing membership from less than ten individuals to “nearly 50.” Tom Thoresen, the state’s retired former deputy chief conservation warden, told one online publication that “discontent lingers from 2011 when the state stripped most public employees – including wardens — of collective-bargaining rights.” ²

Lawsuit Regarding Wisconsin Act 10 Law

Despite its small size as a union, Conservation Workers Local 1215 played an important role in a 2024 lawsuit that led to a Democratic-appointed state judge overturning large portions of Wisconsin’s 2011 law that changed government-worker collective bargaining laws in the state. The judge who issued the ruling had signed a petition to recall then-Governor Scott Walker (R) and cited conservation wardens in his reasoning to overturn parts of the law. ³

Plaintiffs included many government worker unions in the state including Conservation Workers Local 1215 as well as Ben Gruber in his capacity as a game warden. ³

1. “Conservation Wardens Local 1215-Wisconsin.” Facebook profile Accessed July 12, 2024.  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091063130530&sk=about
2. Durkin, Patrick. “Staffing Wardens’ Ranks Still Challenges Wisconsin DNR.” Patrick Durkin Outdoors. October 14, 2023. Accessed July 12, 2024. https://www.patrickdurkinoutdoors.com/post/staffing-wardens-ranks-still-challenges-wisconsin-dnr
3. Opoien, Jessie and Schulte, Laura. “Dane County judge strikes down elements of Wisconsin’s Act 10 law that curbed public unions.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. July 3, 2024. Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2024/07/03/dane-county-judge-strikes-down-elements-of-wisconsins-act-10-law/74297698007/